Group Assignment: Due Date and Reminders

dear Students,

I am extending the due date for the Final Submission of Assignment Two from 16-March to 23-March. Hope this gives you more time to finalize your answers !


The marks for the first round of submissions have already been e-mailed to your group leaders. Please check with them if they have not yet forwarded the marks to you.

For the final version of your blog, please make sure you organize your answers to appear under the correct question number (Q1 answers are posted together, Q2 answers are posted together, etc.). Answers that are buried under the comments may be missed and may not be counted in the marks.

Blogs should be written in an informal style, as if you're having a conversation with someone in front of you. In case you are copying or quoting from a third-party source, please acknowledge your references.

You may answer fewer than 5 questions, but in order to get an outstanding grade, you will need to discuss all 5 questions.

Let me know if you have further questions or comments !

Group Assignment: Post # 5

Businesses and individuals must be aware of the information security and ethical issues that come together with their dependence and frequent use of information systems.

Not knowing or caring about these issues may bring about loss of confidential information and lasting damage to their business reputation. In this post, you will talk about the following:

1) Think of 2 to 3 ways in which businesses may violate privacy or ethical rights without realizing it.

2) How can the violations mentioned in the previous question be avoided or minimized ?

Group Assignment: Post # 4

Logistics companies such as FedEx and UPS no longer merely carry goods from one place to another. Some of them also provide supply chain planning and management services to their customers and help them manage their supply chain information.



Investigate the web site of FedEx OR UPS to see how these companies’ services may be used for supply chain management. Then, answer the following questions:

a) What supply chain processes can each of these companies support for their clients ?
b) How can customers use the Web sites of each company to help them with supply chain management ?

Group Assignment: Post # 3

1. Try any one of these decision support systems and describe two examples of decisions which they may help to support. For each decision, describe whether the decision would be made by operational, middle or senior management levels :





• Break-even Calculator


• Online Customer Lifetime Value Calculator (from Harvard Business School)


• Hong Kong Yellow Pages Online Map


• HSBC Mortgage Planner





2. Next, try out the different modules within the
   OpenBravo ERP demo. After you've familiarized yourself with these tools, identify which module can be used to handle each step within the Order-to-Cash business process below:





• Accept/Enter Order


• Order Acknowledgement


• Purchase Materials


• Receive Materials


• Production


• Packing


• Shipping


• Invoicing and Collection





3. Which departments need to coordinate from start to finish of the Order-to-Cash business process ? Describe how the ERP software makes their work easier. Also explain why ERP software can serve as the foundation or platform for decision support systems.

Session 6: Enterprise Resource Planning

Here are some reference links with videos or demos of ERP software:

SAP ERP Demos
OpenBravo ERP
Compiere ERP

Session 5: Decision-Support and Knowledge Management

On Week 5, we learned about the different levels and classes of decision-making within a company. There are structured decisions, unstructured decisions and semi-structured decisions to be made at each level of a business. Depending on the class and the level at which the decision is made, different information systems or technlogies may be used to assist the decision-maker.

The major decision-support systems we looked at include: management information systems, model-based decision-support systems and business intelligence (or data-based decision-support systems. MIS provides regularly scheduled hardcopy reports that can be used in structured decision-making, while model-driven or data-driven DSS supports unstructured and semi-structured decision making.

Sensitivity analysis or performing "what-if" analysis is a common technique for using model-driven DSS. Here are some examples of model-driven DSS that you may try out online:

Break-even Calculator

Online Customer Lifetime Value Calculator (from Harvard Business School)

As you try out the examples, ask yourself what types of decisions may be supported by asking "what-if" questions through these models. I've also posted a short movie of how a model-based DSS may be used on SOUL.

We also discussed the class answers for Tutorial 4: Business Intelligence with the Hong Kong Jockey Club as our case study company. Model answer will be posted on SOUL as well.

Group Assignment: Post # 2

This week we learned how B.I. tools (business intelligence) allow businesses to get more value and insight out of their databases.

1. Visit the OLAP Service Online Demo and design three different grid reports using at least three dimensions per report. Each report must have at least one measure which is being analyzed along the chosen dimensions.




• You may choose from any of the dimensions found along the left-hand side of the demo: Customer, Date, Employee, Delivery Date, Product, Reseller, Employee, etc.


• You may choose from any of the measures under Internet Sales, Reseller Sales or Sales Summary (found along the left-hand side of the demo).




2. Post the following content on your blog regarding the grid reports you've designed:




• A screen capture of a section of the report which shows the included dimensions and measure(s);


• An explanation of the insights contained in the report and how these insights can be used by the company to understand their performance or make better decisions;




3. Describe the benefits of allowing users to query a data warehouse in the form of an OLAP cube through their Web browser.